One Poem Only is a daily poetry podcast offering a quiet moment with a single poem—read aloud, without analysis or noise.

Melancholy InkDita IndradiSadness learned my namebefore I learned how to answer.It waitsbehind my teethwhen I say I’m fine.I used to shakethe moment I knew.Hands too loud.Breath missing.My heart runninglike it heard somethingI couldn’t.Heat rushingthrough narrow places,every nerve lit uplooking for an exit.Now, when the same knowing comes,my body does something else.It goes quiet.No shaking.No warning.Just the sudden absenceof feeling.Like someonestepped out of the roomand left the lights on.I bleed without soundand call it ink.Silence presses its thumbinto my chest,not to hurt me—just checkingif I’m still here.Some poems begin as tearsI don’t feeluntil much later.Others are the wayI leave the momentwithout moving.I write from placesthat never healed right,only learnedhow to disappear.Melancholy isn’t how I feel.It’s how my hand moveswhen I stay.I mournwhat almost worked,what hurt enoughto teach my bodyhow to leave.I don’t write to be heard.I writeso the sadness knowssomeone stayedwhen I couldn’t.

More from Dita Indradi ↓

• @uninspiringalien on Instagram
• @uninspiringalien on Medium

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